1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to storage envelopes, and more particularly, to method and apparatus for storing cut negatives and negatives mounted on aperture or crop cards in serially connected envelopes constructed to facilitate ease of insertion and removal of the negatives and negatives mounted on cards.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In processing photographic film, it is the conventional practice to develop a roll of film to produce negatives from which photographs are printed. To facilitate the handling and storage of negatives, particularly in commercial photography, a roll of developed film is cut into individual frames of negatives or a strip of four to six negative frames, for example, connected together. The cut negatives or negative strips are inserted into storage envelopes. This is a very time consuming and expensive task if done manually. To make the process of cutting and bagging negatives more efficient, a number of automated devices have been developed to process negatives, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,073,118; 4,115,981; 4,139,978; 4,154,046; and 4,217,743.
In a photographic process, a roll of developed film is cut into individual negatives which are stored in a continuous strip of print bags. The bags are separable from one another by perforations extending in a tear line at their lateral margins. Each bag is printed with information about the photograph including order number, photographer, exposure, print size and other related information.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,995,219 and 5,070,677 disclose automated devices for cutting individual negatives from a roll of developed film and inserting each negative into an envelope or bag that is serially connected to other bags. The connected bags are fed continuously from a supply by a tractor feed device through the cutting and bagging apparatus.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,219, the roll of developed film is rotatably mounted on a spool and fed vertically through a cutting device to sequentially separate each negative from the roll. Travelling through the apparatus in a horizontal direction perpendicular to the vertical feed from the roll of film is a continuous strip of envelopes separated from one another by tear lines. The strip of envelopes is driven by a tractor feed device engaging tractor feed holes located in separable strips extending along the longitudinal margins of the envelopes.
As each negative is cut from the roll, an envelope is advanced in the horizontal feed line to a position where the negative is positioned opposite an opening of an envelope. To insure complete insertion of a cut negative into the envelope, blowers positioned around the envelope create suction on the overlying layers to separate the layers and expand the opening. The negative is then directed under a blast of air through the opening into the compartment of the envelope.
Preferably, the negative is advanced completely into the envelope so that during subsequent handling it does not fall out of the envelope. Once the negatives are cut from the roll and inserted in the envelopes, the envelopes remain connected along the perforation lines for subsequent processing, including printing photographs from the negatives or mounting the negatives on the aperture cards for printing. Also once the negatives have been inserted in the envelopes, the envelopes can be separated from one another along the perforation lines.
When a negative is mounted on an aperture or a crop card for printing, the mounted negative is reinserted into the envelope which contains the necessary identifying information for the negative. A cut negative is easily inserted into the envelope because the longest dimension of the negative is substantially less than the width of the opening into the envelope. A conventional envelope for negative bagging has a width of 5 inches and is formed of flexible material. The base layer is conventionally paper and the top layer is acetate or glassine.
As with the serially connected envelopes disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,219, the top layer of glassine is secured to the base layer of paper by glue lines which extend along a common lower longitudinal edge of the overlying material. Parallel lateral glue lines, spaced a preselected distance apart, extend on the base layer. The glassine layer adheres to the glue lines to form pockets of the envelopes. The pockets are sealed along three sides and are open on a fourth side opposite the upper longitudinal edge of each envelope. The tear lines formed by perforations extend in overlying relation with the transverse glue lines. The individual envelopes are easily separated from one another by severing the material along the tear lines formed by the perforations.
The transverse glue lines are conventionally about 1/4 inch in width leaving an opening for the envelope between glue lines of about 41/2 inches for an envelope having a total width of 5 inches. As indicated, a cut negative has a maximum dimension substantially less than 41/2 inches so that it is easily inserted in the envelope. However, an aperture or crop card has a width of about 4 inches and a length of about 63/8 inches. For an envelope opening of 41/2 inches little clearance is available to receive a 4 inch wide aperture card. The aperture card is not easily inserted in the envelope.
Care must be taken to carefully insert an aperture card in the envelope to prevent tearing the glassine layer. Because of the close tolerances, insertion and removal of a carded negative in a storage envelope is a tedious process and must be done by hand. Because the insertion and removal of a carded negative may be performed a number of times during the photographic process, it is not adaptable to machine operation.
While it is known to store negatives and carded negatives in continuous feed storage envelopes, there is need for continuous feed storage envelopes operable in one mode to assure secure placement of cut negatives in the envelopes and operable in a second mode to facilitate the ease of insertion and removal of carded negatives without entailing the expense of increasing the size of the envelope to more efficiently accommodate the size of an aperture card.